


Teen Wolf, Season 2, Episode 5, Venomous

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s02e05 Venomous, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 02, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 10:19:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16173098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.





	Teen Wolf, Season 2, Episode 5, Venomous

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted before Frenemy. I don't know why it appears as if it were posted later.

Open to Danny spotting Jackson in the locker room. Jackson is frustrated at not being to lift more, and Danny goes to take a shower. He gives the warning, if he comes back to find Jackson’s dead, he’s taking Jackson’s car.

Once he’s gone, Erica kidnaps Jackson.

At the train station, Derek tests Jackson with kanima venom, and it paralyses him. Everyone involved in this scene does great at making Jackson sympathetically terrified and Derek almost sociopathic. His reason for wanting to find and kill the kanima is to protect people, but he refuses to feel empathy for whoever the kanima is.

Him biting Jackson precipitated the kanima happening. I don’t believe he had any idea this specifically would happen, but he knew there were risks to the bite besides becoming a target to hunters. Yet, he still chose to bite several emotionally vulnerable teenagers, and going further, he chose all of them, including Jackson, because, he knew they were all suffering from more than just average teenage angst. An abuse victim, a victim of school bullying with a chronic, almost unmanageable medical affliction, and a boy whose whole life revolves around two people who are either dead or specifically made the legal decision to cut all familial ties with him and possibly never see him.

On another note, I don’t intend to make real life adoptees who identify with Jackson feel bad. I might feel differently if I were adopted. As it is, there are a few family members I’m close to, and then, there are some family members I wouldn’t recognise if I saw them on the street and would place certain family friends over them, not out of malice, just because, I actually know and am known by said family friends. In fiction, I’ve always liked the trope of people choosing their own families and the acknowledgement family can be more than sharing blood or marriage.

All this said, I’m not sure Derek’s line about Jackson still being a snake, just not the one they’re looking for, actually happened.

Derek and Erica wander off, and approaching the paralysed Jackson, Isaac says Jackson needs to do one more thing, specifically for Isaac himself.

Cue Sheriff S reaching a new level of disgust and dislike for Jackson as Jackson recants seeing Isaac and Coach Lahey arguing the night of the murder.

I’m not sure if this would work in real life, but here, as shown in class with Scott and Stiles, Isaac’s fugitive status is lifted.

After the credits, Stiles says he only found one thing about kanimas online: It’s a werejaguar from South America that goes after murderers.

Why is South American so important in the Teen Wolf universe? Also, nice foreshadowing to Kate.

Nearby, Danny and Jackson talk about a computer program Danny’s found for recovering footage. Then, Jackson hears Erica and Isaac talking about testing Lydia.

In Coach’s class, he talks to Scott and Stiles about what Derek did to him and what the betas are planning to do to Lydia. Stiles insists Lydia isn’t the kanima, but as he admits, his arguments for how she can’t be are rather weak. Still, he holds to it. “Lydia’s fine.”

Over to Lydia not being fine. She’s having hallucinations, and Peter makes an appearance.

Then, she’s in front of Coach’s class, and she’s written Someonehelpme backwards all over the board.

Junior’s shown to be sitting in the class.

In chemistry, Scott and Stiles flank Lydia, and when Allison comes in, Scott nods to a nearby Isaac and Erica.

Harris brings up a supposed Einstein quote, and then, he pats Stiles on the shoulder as he essentially calls him stupid in front of the whole class.

He knows better. Is this bitterness or just outright hatred?

They’re going to be doing an experiment. He tells Erica to take the first station, and many boys and, at least, one girl all want to be Erica’s partner.

Harris answers Scott to be her partner, and Erica’s happy at Allison’s jealousy.

Scott tries to convince Erica to let him talk to Derek before they try anything, and she knows Scott and Allison aren’t really broken up by the smell of Allison all over him. Crossing the line by touching his leg despite his clear discomfort, she goes on about she’d be a better choice as a girlfriend/person to have sex with than Allison is.

Allison and Lydia are working together, and pointing out what’s happening, Lydia isn’t buying the non-jealousy Allison’s trying to sell.

It’s time to switch partners, and Allison warns Lydia not to talk to Erica or Isaac but can’t give a good reason when asked why.

Stiles and Isaac end up partners, and Stiles threatens Isaac. Isaac has a gross scene I believe happened but have always tried to ignore when it comes to his character. He’s misogynistic towards Lydia due to her once turning him down when he asked her on a date.

Time to switch again, and Isaac ends up Lydia’s partner.

Stiles tries to get over there, but Harris stops him.

Erica and Allison end up together, and again, Erica crosses the line by touching Allison’s leg despite Allison’s clear discomfort, and then, digging her claws in. She makes it clear she wants Scott, and also, she wouldn’t mind if she and Allison either fought or hooked up.

There is an interesting line about Erica being a little psychic. “I just don’t think you’re going to last.”

Before Allison died, she showed some precognitive abilities. If Allison wasn’t originally meant to die and Erica had stayed, would Erica eventually be genuinely precognitive? Would she have foreseen her own death?

The experiment is over, and for those who did it correctly, they now have an edible crystal.

Lydia consumes hers, and she isn’t paralysed.

It’s never made clear if this is because Isaac screwed up, Harris did something, or Lydia is actually immune to kanima venom. When Tracy hurts her, she’s wounded so badly she can’t move, but if Tracy had just made a normal cut, would she have been immune or temporarily paralysed?

Scott sees Derek watching from outside.

Next, the trio meets alone, and it’s not made clear whether Allison thinks Lydia might be the kanima or not. What is made clear is she wants to protect her. Aw.

She thinks she might know someone who can translate the archaic Latin bestiary, and Scott says he’ll try to talk to Derek. He makes it clear he thinks he needs to protect Stiles and Allison, and in response, Allison withdraws her definitely illegal to have on school grounds mini-crossbow. “I can protect myself.”

Illegality aside, this is awesome.

Scott is a subdued, and giving him a good opportunity to tell her and Stiles about what Gerard did by asking if something else happened, he doesn’t take it.

He starts to leave, but first, he has to catch the arrow Stiles accidentally shot.

This is part of why weapons are banned on school grounds. Even if a kid both has no intention of using them against another person and knows how to responsibly handle them, there’s no guarantee another student won’t get their hands on the weapon and intentionally or accidentally hurt themselves and/or others.

Also, being a police officer’s kid, even impulsive Stiles should know better than to handle a weapon he doesn’t know how to properly use.

I’m not calling unreliable narration, because, the fact Stiles should doesn’t mean he wouldn’t still do something like this.

Over in Morrell’s, Lydia keeps insisting the ink blots she’s shown resemble butterflies. There’s one that causes a brief hallucination of burned Peter’s face.

Morrell wants Lydia to open up, Lydia insists she’s as open and honest as a person should be, and then, Morrell does something she shouldn’t: Looking at one of the inkblots that clearly resembles a wolf, she says, “I would have said wolf.”

The whole point of ink blot testing is to not influence or suggest what the testee perceives even if the tester believes/knows the testee is lying.

In the library, Matt, Jackson, and Danny are sitting together. It’s established someone with a key and the ability to manipulate footage is responsible. Danny and Matt suggest they could have done it together as, though he doesn’t have a key, Danny knows Mrs Jackson forgets to lock the kitchen door, it’s Matt’s camera, and Danny is a techno-whiz.

When Matt leaves, Jackson teases Danny about Danny’s obvious crush on Matt, and this is another thing Teen Wolf does wonderfully. Jackson isn’t teasing Danny about liking a boy, he’s teasing his best friend about having a crush.

Danny brings up Matt’s interest in Allison.

Lydia comes in with Stiles scurrying behind her, and Jackson realises she never gave his house key back when he broke up with her.

Meanwhile, Allison has brought a printed page of the bestiary to Morrell. She says it’s from a family heirloom.

Actually, this is true.

Making it clear she’s not sure about some words, Morrell translates it as the kanima seeks a friend.

Outside, Scott tries to convince Boyd to let him talk to Derek. Derek appears, and they argue about Lydia. Derek makes it clear Isaac and Erica, two teenagers, are going to kill their classmate.

I completely get why many people don’t like Derek in the second season. In the first season, he was just creepy and awkward, but all he was really doing was trying to find out what happened to his sister, protect Scott, and stay alive all whilst dealing with Scott and Stiles repeatedly setting the police on him.

Here, he’s not evil for wanting to protect people, but refusing to have any empathy for the victim he helped create and some of what he’s doing in regards to the three betas does make him a genuine antagonist.

Inside, Isaac is clawing lockers and bouncing around with Erica.

Outside, Boyd knocks Scott down. Derek says, sometimes, the bite takes the reflection of who a person is. Helping him back up, Derek points out, “Even Stiles calls her cold-blooded.”

Magic Bullet planted the seeds, but last episode was truly the beginning of Sterek’s origin.

Scott suggests Lydia is immune to the bite, and Derek insists no one is immune to the bite.

“What about Jackson,” Scott asks.

Good point. Jackson isn’t a werewolf, and he passed the test. So, putting aside the eventual reveal of Jackson being the kanima, from Derek what knows right know, his own words are wrong.

In addition, the bite kick-started Lydia’s banshee status, but if her powers had naturally manifested in their own time, her being bitten by an alpha likely wouldn’t have done anything. She’s not a shape-shifter, and she likely never will.

Back in the library, Matt and Danny are working together, and Matt brings up the lens flare that only happens when he takes pictures of Scott.

Scott confronts Derek about biting Jackson, and Boyd is shown to be listening closely when Scott says that Derek was probably hoping Jackson would die from it.

Inside, Stiles, Jackson, and Allison have snuck Lydia out of the library, and Matt gets manhandled by Isaac when the two betas realise this.

Meanwhile, Lydia is suspicious of this supposed study group, but Stiles and Jackson take turns physically guiding her. It’s uncomfortable, but for once, it’s also understandable. If a person’s in danger, grabbing and forcing them to move isn’t the worst thing someone could do.

Coming back inside, Scott is stopped by Coach. Someone has torn up something.

I’m not good with anything involving sports.

Outside, Stiles is driving Roscoe with Jackson, Allison, and a bewildered, somewhat frightened Lydia in tow.

Back in the school, whatever the equipment was, it belonged to Danny.

At Scott’s house, Lydia wants to know where Scott is, and Stiles hopes Scott will be meeting them soon. There’s a small moment where Allison quietly thanks Jackson for helping to protect Lydia. Aw.

Inside, they begin locking down the house, and their explanation for Lydia is that there’s been some break-ins. And a murder, Stiles adds.

So, naturally, they left the safety of the school library to come to the house in an unsafe neighbourhood of a boy who isn’t even home.

I really wish Lydia had brought this up. Roden does great this episode with having confused, suspicious Lydia nevertheless bring up logical points and questions that the others have to try to dodge.

Jackson wants to talk to Lydia in private, and she follows him.

Back in school, Matt snaps another picture of Scott, and yet again, glow obstructs Scott’s face.

Over at the McCall house, Jackson is a jerk about her not returning the key, and she rightfully lays into him. She was attacked, her attacker hasn’t been caught, she spent two days wandering around the woods naked, and he and the others are all acting weird around her. With all this, the thought of his key hasn’t crossed her mind.

At school, Scott brings the equipment to Danny, and Danny claims someone else was wearing them.

Allison calls on Stiles’s phone, and it’s shown Derek and betas have shown up outside.

As Danny’s examining the equipment, the video shows Jackson robotically sitting up with glowing eyes.

Back at the McCall house, Allison considers calling her dad, and instead of pointing out why this might be a bad idea, Stiles brings up her and Scott. Chris would take the opportunity to try to capture/put down Derek and the betas, but he might not believe Lydia is an innocent human, either.

Upstairs, Jackson accuses Lydia of editing the tape, and utterly scared and confused, Lydia ends up giving him his key back.

“I hate you. I hate you so much,” she tearfully declares.

Ashamed and just as lost as she is, he correctly says, “No. No, you don’t.”

They end up kissing, but it’s utterly sad and broken as opposed to romantic. Scales are shown on his back.

Downstairs, Stiles suggests Allison shoot one of the werewolves. Preferably Derek. In the head.

She points out, if Scott can catch an arrow, Derek probably can, too.

Then, they realise Isaac’s missing, and he appears behind them. Knocking Allison down first, he moves onto Stiles.

Upstairs, Jackson and Lydia’s snogging session is interrupted by a crash downstairs.

She goes to check it out, and behind her, Jackson starts transforming. She either sees a hallucaination or Isaac dragging Stiles. I’m not sure.

Coming up, Allison orders Lydia to get back. She says someone’strying to break in.

Unable to find Jackson, she locks herself in Scott’s bathroom, and then, she does the sensible thing and calls the police.

Going to Scott’s room, Allison realises the kanima is nearby due to it leaving goo on Scott’s window.

Erica breaks in, Allison shoots at her, and when Erica catches the arrow, she quickly realises it was coated with kanima venom.

I love protective, intelligent Allison so much.

Outside, Derek and Boyd are shown watching and hearing the lights flickering andthe sounds of crashing, and I don’t buy the smirk Derek has on. If it were Chris being attacked pre-season 4, I would, but even right now, he wouldn’t be relishing human Stiles being hurt. I don’t think he would Allison, either. From his point of view, the Argent is genuinely trying to protect a shapeshifter. He thinks she’s wrong to be protecting this particular one, but still, this is a far cry from her what her family does.

Soon, Isaac and Erica are literally tossed onto the lawn. Heh.

After this, Scott appears.

Derek has a line about Scott having his own pack, and before I got into TW meta, I really liked this line.

They all hear sirens, and it’s made clear the trio will hold Derek and Boyd off until the police arrive.

Everyone but unconscious Isaac and Lydia see the kanima on the roof, Derek orders Boyd to get the betas to safety, and then, Lydia storms out of the house.

Scott realises the kanima’s Jackson.

He’s right, but there’s still a possibility Jackson’s hiding under a bed or something. This isn’t absolute proof.

Elsewhere, a car with an Einstein quote is shown, and K-Jackson puts his hand on the driver’s side window.

A gloved hand puts his or her hand over the hand on their side of the window, and then, Jackson runs off.

Was this Matt? He’s controlling Jackson, but was this him here? A later episode will reveal this is definitely Harris’s car.

So, was it actually Harris here? Did he let a student borrow his car? Did Matt temporarily steal it?

Harris has a genuine fondness for Jackson, he knows more than he lets on, and he often guides Stiles towards the truth. Is he trying to help/save Jackson?

I don’t think it was, but could it possibly be Gerard already beginning to wrestle control away from Matt?

Is Morrell a possibility? She knows more than she's letting on, too, and a teacher borrowing another teacher's car makes more sense than a student borrowing a teacher's car.

Fin.


End file.
